This invention is in the field of electronic consumer care (“eCare”) solutions and particularly the utilization of devices to provide consumer care.
Currently, consumer care is provided via server-based systems. Various modes of interfaces are supported, including web sites, call center representatives, and telephony-based systems, as well as natural language-based interfaces. All of these systems use a client-server model, wherein most of the processing occurs in a back-end system.
Generally, care providers have attacked this problem by providing self-care web sites and interactive voice response (IVR) systems. While these systems may solve some of the problems associated with a server-based system, issues still remain with respect to end consumer convenience, usability, and back-end system information. Consumer care may be inconvenient because the end consumer may be required to change the access channel to obtain care. For example, a consumer experiencing a problem with a mobile phone may have to go to a personal computer (PC) to obtain a care solution. Additionally, in existing systems, consumer care may be difficult to obtain due to poor usability. For instance, web sites often present too much information with awkward navigation, thus requiring consumers to have a defined substantial need to navigate to the appropriate care solution. IVR systems, specifically, natural language-enabled systems, may be easier to use, however, they still do not lend themselves to frequent requests for small pieces of information. Further, in certain systems, the information the end consumer needs is either already on a consumer device or could be made available on such a device.
Currently, up to twenty percent (20%) of incoming calls service providers receive from subscribers are general inquiry calls. In fact, for balance limited/prepay subscribers, these general inquiry calls may comprise up to fifty percent (50%) of all the interactions with these subscribers. These general inquiry calls occupy incoming call bandwidth, increase hold times, drive up call abandonment due to lengthy hold times, drive down consumer satisfaction metrics, and take up valuable care representative time. The ability to perform these functions on the device itself would reduce these costs and increase consumer satisfaction.